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Vector field (blue) and its associated scalar potential field (red). Point P between earth and moon is the point of equilibrium. In physics, a gravitational field or gravitational acceleration field is a vector field used to explain the influences that a body extends into the space around itself. [1]
It is defined so that the gravitational force experienced by a particle is equal to the mass of the particle multiplied by the gravitational field at that point. Gravitational flux is a surface integral of the gravitational field over a closed surface, analogous to how magnetic flux is a surface integral of the magnetic field. Gauss's law for ...
This formulation is dependent on the objects causing the field. The field has units of acceleration; in SI, this is m/s 2. Gravitational fields are also conservative; that is, the work done by gravity from one position to another is path-independent. This has the consequence that there exists a gravitational potential field V(r) such that
In a roughly uniform gravitational field gravity acts on each part of a body approximately equally. When there are no other forces, such as the normal force exerted between a body (e.g. an astronaut in orbit) and its surrounding objects, it will result in the sensation of weightlessness , a condition that also occurs when the gravitational ...
A non-rotating perfect sphere of uniform mass density, or whose density varies solely with distance from the centre (spherical symmetry), would produce a gravitational field of uniform magnitude at all points on its surface.
A common misconception occurs between centre of mass and centre of gravity.They are defined in similar ways but are not exactly the same quantity. Centre of mass is the mathematical description of placing all the mass in the region considered to one position, centre of gravity is a real physical quantity, the point of a body where the gravitational force acts.
In physics, a unified field theory (UFT) is a type of field theory that allows all fundamental forces and elementary particles to be written in terms of a single type of field. According to modern discoveries in physics, forces are not transmitted directly between interacting objects but instead are described and interpreted by intermediary ...
Active mass, the mass that determines the objects gravitational effect. By definition of active and passive gravitational mass, the force on due to the gravitational field of is: = Likewise the force on a second object of arbitrary mass 2 due to the gravitational field of mass 0 is: =